cookies

I have figured out that this little girl LOVES cookies!

Who doesn't love cookies?

just Dance!

entertainment

 Some of the best toys are ones you would never think were toys.

One of Luke's most favorite things to play with is my measuring cups.

He likes to fill them up, and dump them out.

Emptying one measuring cups contents into another measuring cup.

This will keep him entertained for quite some time.

Until he starts banging the measuring cups together, making WAY too much noise!

 This princess discovered animal cookies.

The baby kinds, that dissolve really fast.

She really likes to gnaw on things.

So these cookies work great for her!

 These pictures were taken right after she woke up from a nap,

so she still has her nap puffy eyes.

One thing I am thankful for, is Luke can self entertain.

Sometimes doing this results in a lot of clean up for me.

Like his previous coloring all over the couch.

That took me quite some time scrubbing the marker out of the couch,

and I still didn't get it all out.

Other than that, Luke gets into all kinds of mischief all on his own.

I hear him say, "ah-ha" with such excitement.

Then I know he thinks he has struck gold with getting into whatever he is getting into.

He is full of discoveries.

Another hilarious thing he does is,

he says, "let me think."

While saying that he taps his finger on his chin,

and has such a look of contemplation.

I don't know where he learned that one, but I laugh every time!

photo shoot

 Luke wanted to take some pictures today,

she we had a mini photo shoot.

If I ever get out the camera to take Clara's picture,

Luke rushes over to get in front of the lens.

 Luke loves to touch Clara's hair.

He is always rubbing her head,

and telling me that she has hair.

 Luke had fun taking these photos.

We made a path out of couch cushions to play on.

Then we laid down on them, 

and held the camera over us to snap some photos.

Luke wanted to look at each one after we took it.

Then he would laugh at the photo,

and ask for another one!

Not sure if he was laughing at himself, or his silly mom.

 Some things Luke has been up to lately...

He likes to organize his letters in rows, or in groups of colors.

 He lines up his cars,

and then moves them all from one location to another.

He likes to hide things in the windows behind the blinds.

This little girl is the perfect audience.

She just watches Luke in awe!

cuties

 These kiddos are just too cute!

The other day, we were going for a car ride,

Luke has his movies that he is obsessed with to watch in the car.

I don't mind, it makes car rides peaceful.

During this movie, there is a segment that could involve some dancing.

Luke always claps along, and shakes his legs to dance while strapped into his car seat.

Clara likes to hold her head up and watch Luke.

Luke was enjoying himself, and invited Clara to join him.

He was saying,

"come on baby, dance" over and over.

It was the cutest thing ever!

Clara was just smiling at him.

This cutie is officially 6 months old!

Where does the time go!

Here are her 6 month stats:

weight: 14.73 lbs 25th percentile

height: 26 inches 62nd percentile

Doctor said its time to start more solid foods since her weight has trailed off a bit.

The little girl is the nursing queen, and likes food, but likes to nurse more!

She is busy, and always wanting to see what's going on.

She does not like to sit still, so sitting up is NOT on her agenda right now.

She is all about trying to crawl and stand and walk!

Look out, here she comes!

say something

This kid is obsessed with bananas.

That is all he eats these days.

He will eat like 4-5 banana's a day!

That's a lot!

He is learning all kinds of new things and phrases to say.

There are 2 phrases he REFUSES to say:

"I'm sorry."

"I love you."

When we tell Luke he needs to say sorry-

mostly because he has hurt Clara, or disobeyed mommy or daddy,

Luke will say sorry by:

bowing his head, and backing up against you

so you get a backwards hug, if you want to look at it that way.

Either this kid is so ashamed he can't bear to say the words "I'm sorry."

Or

He is so prideful, he refuses to say it!

He won't say "I love you" either.

Instead of saying it,

he will blow you kisses.

I guess he is just too prideful to say it!

We tell him we love him all the time,

hopefully one of these days,

we will hear

"I love you" from his mouth.

On a separate note, does anyone else think his eyebrows are ferocious?
Those puppies look out of control to me,
I might just have to trim those bad boys!

Busy Cont.

This is what happens when Mommy's need a moment.

To care for one child,

and leave the other child unattended.

The busy unattended child,

gets into the marker drawer,

where he knows he isn't supposed to be,

and has some fun!

Busy

 There has been lots of busyness going on at our house.

Clara is busy trying to get around the house.

She gets so frustrated because she wants to go-go-go!

She wants to run right now, and her mind knows that's what it wants to do,

her body just hasn't learned how yet, and you can see it all over her face.

She can scoot around and twist and turn, and roll from one side of the room to the other.

She can back her self up, and she often gets stuck under the couch or bed.

 Luke is busy LOVING his sister.

He is always saying "Hi Baby!" with such enthusiasm.

Luke is genuinely excited to play with her.

He tries to jump over her and run circles around her.

They both think its hilarious,

even though this is a serious hazard to Clara!

 Luke has also been busy learning new words and phrases every day.

He is starting to repeat what we've been telling him to do or not to do.

It just goes to show he knows exactly what we are saying,

he just chose not to follow through and obey.

For instance:

He is not supposed to get up on the counter,

or stand on top of chairs and jump from them.

He is also not supposed to play in Clara's jumperoo.

So while he is doing all these things he isn't supposed to do,

he kindly tells me, what I usually tell him, like:

"get down"

"that's for the baby"

He is a smart boy, that has some very serious agenda's that do NOT include obeying!

Clara is busy getting her hands on any toy possible.

She knows what she wants, and slowly makes her way to it.

Then its all about shoving it into her mouth!

Luke is mostly good about sharing,

he hasn't been super possessive of all his toys.

I was looking forward to January and February as being slower months.  

Typically we get so busy with all the hussel and bussel of the holidays,

that everyone slows down for January.

I have not found this to be the case for our house!

Goals:

Simplify!

Naked

Naked:

There is a lot of nakedness in our house, and be honest, there's a lot in yours too!

We have a morning routine.

Every morning I take a shower.  

99% of the time, I am not alone.

Luke always begs to get in with me.

We enjoy our shower time,

mostly he plays with his bath letters and likes to stand in the water too.

After I am done showering,

Luke still likes to play in the bath even longer,

until he is basically a prune.

I use this time to blow dry my hair and get ready for the day.

When Luke is ready to get out,

I let him have his naked time.

Which, I am pretty sure he REALLY enjoys.

Usually I need a little more time to finish getting ready.

So I let Luke roam the house naked for a while.

I usually find him in his chair, watching cartoons.

Today I found that he had helped himself to the cheetos too.

This made me laugh,

I thought I would share this moment with you.

Just naked.... eating cheetos... watching cartoons.

Could life get any better?

playing

 What have we been up to lately?

Well, since its too cold outside, we've had to become creative with ideas of things to do inside.

Clara likes to play with Luke,

and Luke likes to play with Clara.

Luke just gets frustrated that Clara can't do everything he wants her to do.

 Clara sure does have a high tolerance level for Luke.

Luke does all kinds of things to her,

and she just laughs or smiles at it all.

He likes to point out her ears, nose, eyes etc.

Often this means she's getting poked and prodded.

I have looked over to find lots of things shoved in her mouth.

Luke has tried to give her his tooth brush, and brush her invisible teeth.

Luke has tried to comb her hair, even though he is not very soft about it.

Luke has shoved all kinds of food in her mouth,

and Clara doesn't like that very much.

It's much harder to have a second kid because you constantly 

have to watch what the first kid is doing to the second kid.  

I have to play defense for Clara!

 Clara isn't crawling yet, but she is close.

She will be SO much happier when she can move on her own.

She gets frustrated.  She can see things that she wants, yet she can't get to them!

She is quite possessive about things she wants to touch and hold.

She is definitely our drama queen!

She may look cute, but she can be sassy already!

 It's all about PLAY time when daddy gets home.

Clara mostly enjoys playing with her brother,

she just seems to think he is hilarious!

Pumpkin Chocolate Chip Cookies

This is simply the BEST recipe for pumpkin chocolate chip cookies!  Enjoy!

1/2 cup shortening
1/2 cup room temperature butter
1 1/2 cups white sugar
1 1/2 cups brown sugar
2 eggs
2 tsp. vanilla
1 tsp. salt
2 tsp. baking soda
2 tsp. baking powder
3 tsp. cinnamon
1 tsp. nutmeg
5 cups flour
1- 29oz. can pumpkin
1-2 bags mini chocolate chips

Cream together the butter, shortening and sugars until well combined.  Then add the eggs, one at a time and vanilla.  In a separate bowl, mix together the dry ingredients, and then add the dry ingredients to the butter/sugar mixture.  Finally mix in the pumpkin and chocolate chips.  Drop by teaspoon fulls on an ungreased baking sheet.  Bake @ 350 degrees for 9-10 minutes.  Remove immediately from the pan to stop cooking action.  Enjoy!


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power tools

 Luke has been ALL BOY from the start.

He is just crazy, busy, wild and fun!

Everything Gilbert does, Luke wants to do.

Luke is really good at mimicing.

Once Luke watches you do it once, he's on to you.

 Especially when it comes to tools.

Whenever Luke has watched Gilbert use a tool,

Luke wants to do the same thing.

We have caught him in the garage trying to get to the tool box!

Luke's new favorite toy is his toy tool set from his aunt Danielle.

 This power drill is Luke's favorite.

He tries to drill everything.

Including his sister.

As you can see from Luke's expressions in these photos,

Luke thinks he is AWESOME with this drill.

He even makes sound effects when he is drilling things.

Luke's new favorite phase:

"This is fun!"

He says that to anything he thinks is fun now.

His other favorite phase,

"Oh Bella, where are you."

He misses his cousin, he needs a playmate!

 Clara's personality is coming out more and more each day.

She is picky, that's for certain.

She knows exactly what she wants, and she knows how to "work it".

Meaning, she can cry and whine on a moments notice, 

and immediately turn it off when she gets what she wants.

 Such a typical girl!

This dramatic business is new to me, since Luke was super chill about a lot of things.

Clara is very grabby.

She wants everything, and she wants it right now.

She eye's things, and whines until you let her touch it.

She is also very possessive. 

Don't take away something she has, because she will put up a fit!

She's also stubborn, which is no surprise.

There is lots of stubbornness in this household, she fits right in!

She doesn't giggle for just anyone.

The only person she will giggle for is, LUKE!
Clara will kinda purr/growl when she is happy instead of giggling.

She just loves her brother.

She watches him, and doesn't mind all the things he does to her one bit!

They absolutely love each other!

Rice Cereal

Clara is not quite 6 months old, but its right around the corner!  We hadn't given her any food to try yet, until just the other day we decided to try out a little rice cereal.  Clara is a wonderful eater, as you can see by her nice plump cheeks.  She wasn't quite sure what to think of the rice cereal, but she didn't hate it.  This little girl is just too cute.

This morning I had one of the moments, when you realize having your children is worth it.  Yes, sometimes I ask myself why I had children, its not all rose colored glasses.  However, this morning was a cute moment.  Clara was slightly coughing, probably chocking on some spit while she played with some toys.  Quite frankly, some noises it takes me a minute to recognize what's going on, and it wasn't an alarming cough so I didn't notice it right away.  There are just too many noises, I think subconsciously we tune some out because they aren't on the "needs attention" radar.  Luke did not ignore this little cough.  He immediately ran over to Clara and started lightly patting her on her back telling her "it's ok baby" over and over.  He was genuinely concerned for her, and why trying to reassure her, she would be fine.  Luke has learned this from us.  This is what we do when he is chocking on something.  It was just a "too cute" moment.  It made me happy that my children genuinely love and care for each other!

Talents

Luke's latest trick is taking off all his clothes!  He thinks its great to run around naked, and don't get me wrong, I like to run around naked too, but its just not appropriate!  Luke is such a busy boy.  He just never slows down.  He is always going going going.  He wakes up at the crack of dawn, and refuses to takes naps.  Then he tries to stay up way past his bed time.  He simply has energy.

I have often been jealous of those who have very visible usable talents.  I have often wished I had a fabulous singing voice, or was well spoken.  I wished I was more creative and artistic.  I think I was absent the day in heaven when we all were receiving our talents.  I have recently decided that I do have one talent, that I should be happy about.  That is the talent of energy.  I am told I was a lot like Luke.  I am told that I also woke up too early, went to bed too late and refused  naps.  Maybe Luke gets that from me, Luke's dad was also a wild child...  However, in adulthood it has transformed into usable energy.  It is not uncommon for me to wake up in the 4 am hour for the day.  I never take naps, and I can generally motivate myself to keep up on projects, hobbies, and housework.  This is all because of my energy.  I have decided to be grateful for it, and to call it a talent.  

So I hope, someday, Luke's energy will turn in to something useful and good!  For now, Luke is just simply all over the place, and its a good thing I have said energy to keep up with him.  Luke's other latest trick is SASS!  Luke knows what I am going to say to him.  For instance, if Luke is standing up on the coffee table, he knows I am going to tell him to "get down."  All I have to do is look at Luke when he is doing this and he says to me,"get down" with some serious SASS!  Where do they learn this?

Why..

Let's be honest, I keep this blog for myself.  No one looks at it more than I do.  I enjoy taking close up photos of my children, and then looking at them several times a day so that I can smile at that moment I captured.  This post is for Gilbert.  We have all felt under appreciated at times in our lives. I have often thought that Gilbert needs to appreciate me more, for many reasons, including the above photos.  These are things that happen on a daily basis.  Almost every day Gilbert comes home from work, he has a fabulous meal waiting for him when he gets home, and it's always plated up and ready to go, so he can came home and enjoy dinner right away.  When I took these photos, I was feeling under appreciated.  I wanted to prove to Gilbert how lucky he is to have a wife that still cooks!  Cooking is totally going out of style these days, even though I don't agree.  I happen to LOVE to cook.  Someday I will get a photo of the laundry fairy that Gilbert lives with.  Gilbert leaves his dirty clothes on the floor and the laundry fairy comes through, cleans them, and hangs them back up in his closet!

Today I realized, it is not I who is under appreciated, it is Gilbert!

Everyday Gilbert gets up and goes to work, same thing, day in and day out.  He doesn't particularly enjoy going to work, but who does?  I think a lot of people would rather be on vacation their whole lives, but somebody has to make some money around here, and it isn't me.

I appreciate the fact that Gilbert has a reliable good job with good benefits.  I love staying home with his kids and then spending all his money! :)  After spending the last 2 weeks on vacation with Gilbert, today was the first day that is was back to the old routine.  I appreciate routine with small children, it seems to make things easier, but getting up and going back to work after having nearly 2 weeks off isn't a fun routine.  My children are too young to realize what an awesome dad they have for many reasons including this one.  Luke always lights up when Gilbert gets home from work.  So today I just needed to share my appreciation!

Have you played this?

This is my family on Christmas Eve, we were all sitting there, on our smart phones, doing one thing.  Playing Words With Friends.  Against each other.  We each had about 5 games going on at the same time.  This is when my addiction truly started.  Before Gilbert and I had children, we used to play scrabble for hours, it was a weekly ritual, usually on lazy Sunday afternoons.  We became quite competitive.  This new version, or Words With Friends, has revived the competition.  It's nice because you don't have a game board or tiles laying out for children to run away with.  You should try this!